WORLD-RENOWNED BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC
PARTNERS WITH DELTA BLUES
MUSEUM AND ROBERT JOHNSON FOUNDATION TO FIND LOCAL TEENS FOR
FULL SCHOLARSHIPS
TO STUDY IN BOSTON THIS SUMMER
BOSTON, April xx, 2008 – This summer, two Mississippi
teens will spend five weeks in Boston, learning how to take their
musical talents to new heights. Berklee College of Music, the
world’s largest college of contemporary music, is collaborating
with the Delta Blues Museum, in Clarksdale, and the Robert Johnson
Foundation, in Crystal Springs, to identify talented and deserving
teens from the after-school music programs offered at each institution.
This is the first time that Berklee is partnering with institutions
in Mississippi to actively engage young musicians.
One teen from each institution will receive a full scholarship
to Berklee’s Five-Week Summer Performance Program for high
school students, July 12 – August 15, where they will take
performance, music theory, and music technology classes, and
choose from songwriting, music synthesis, and music business
as electives. Both winners will be recognized publicly at music
festivals in coming days: April 19 at the Juke Joint Festival
in Clarksdale, and May 10 at the 2008 Blues Jam, produced by
the Johnson Foundation in Crystal Springs. Teens will be chosen
at auditions in the days leading up to both events.
Five teens from the Delta Blues Museum’s after-school
arts and education program qualify to audition for one scholarship
on April 17, at the museum. These students have demonstrated
rich, musical talent in the program where they learned to play
the blues on instruments of their choice from instructors who
utilize the oral tradition, recorded music, video, books, and
handouts in a classroom at the museum. The students progress
from learning the basics of playing music to working together
as a band and eventually to mentoring younger classmates. A presentation
will be made to the scholarship winner on April 19 at 2:00 on
the Delta Blues Museum stage during Clarksdale’s annual
Juke Joint Festival.
At the Robert Johnson Blues Foundation, homegrown talent from
Crystal Springs and Hazlehurst have been competing in a monthly
talent showcase for a spot in one of three age categories in
the Robert Johnson Superstar Talent Showcase Finale at the Crystal
Springs Middle School on April 28. The winner from category two,
comprising eight teens between 13 and 19, will be named the Robert
Johnson Junior Superstar, and receive the scholarship to Berklee
this summer. A presentation will be made to the winner on stage
at the Blues Jam in Chatauqua Park on May 10, following a performance
at the Robert Johnson Hall of Fame Banquet the previous evening,
in Jackson. Some of the showcase winners can be viewed in QuickTime
at robertjohnsoncreativearts.com.
Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principal
that the best way to prepare students for careers in music was
through the study and practice of contemporary music, be it hip-hop,
rock, jazz, country, gospel, electronica, Latin, or funk. For
60 years, the college has evolved constantly to reflect the state
of the art of music and the music business. With over a dozen
performance and nonperformance majors, a diverse and talented
student body representing over 70 countries, and a music industry "who's
who" of alumni, Berklee is the world's premier learning
lab for the music of today — and tomorrow.
